European Projects: 5G-CrossHaul

The 5G-Crosshaul project aims at developing a 5G integrated backhaul and fronthaul transport network enabling a flexible and software-defined reconfiguration of all networking elements in a multi-tenant and service-oriented unified management environment. The 5G-Crosshaul transport network envisioned will consist of high-capacity switches and heterogeneous transmission links (e.g., fibre or wireless optics, high-capacity copper, mmWave) interconnecting Remote Radio Heads, 5GPoAs (e.g., macro and small cells), cloud-processing units (mini data centres), and points-of-presence of the core networks of one or multiple service providers. This transport network will flexibly interconnect distributed 5G radio access and core network functions, hosted on in-network cloud nodes, through the implementation of: (i) a control infrastructure using a unified, abstract network model for control plane integration (Crosshaul Control Infrastructure, XCI); (ii) a unified data plane encompassing innovative high-capacity transmission technologies and novel deterministic-latency switch architectures (Crosshaul Packet Forwarding Element, XFE).

The 5G-Crosshaul testbed consist of four sites:

• The 5G Berlin Initiative core and access infrastructure is located directly in the center of Berlin in Charlottenburg.
• The 5TONIC laboratory infrastructure, located in Madrid, is a base framework oriented to test and develop 5G deployments.
• The 5G end-to-end testbed infrastructure, located in Barcelona.
• The Taiwan High Speed Train Testbed, located in Taiwan.